When you think of Jewish people in the United States…what comes to mind? For me I immediately begin to hear the Chanukah Song. No, not the blessings we chant over the menorah, or Dreidel Dreidel…but, believe it or not, the song Adam Sandler sings about those ho are both famous and Jewish. I realize that sounds trite…but for those of you have not heard it…you should download it or buy it because it is really very entertaining. The premise of the song is that Jewish kids everywhere feel left out at Christmastime because of all that Christmas means in popular culture. So Adam Sandler has come to the rescue to point out that there are Jews everywhere in America and that we should feel proud. He does it in a funny, albeit flip, way, but the song has serious implications. The first is that Jews really can be found in every corner of American life and the second is that we should take note of that. The problem with Sander's Song is that he only begins with Rod Karew. He leaves out several hundreds of years of our American Jewish experience.

You may have noticed as you entered Bet Shalom that along that back hallway, by the coat racks, there are roughly 25 new posters hanging on the walls. These posters have all been published over the last 50 years by the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati as a celebration of our time on this continent. There has been organized Jewish Life in North American since 1654. This year we are nationally celebrating the fact that Jews have been here for 350 years. Our history here is too rich, and frankly too long, to address wholly in one sermon. I shall adhere to the Talmudic principle that states you should take the comfort of the congregation into consideration when making liturgical decisions. So rather than go into many of the great details of that history, we shall instead talk about some highlights and their implications.

Let us first talk about what is significant about 350 years. It is likely, and based on several historical records probable, that Jews came to the New World well before 1654. Luis de Torres was a Spanish Jew who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his voyage serving as his interpreter. Others have pointed out that Jews, either as part of the Dutch West Indies expansion westward, or because they were themselves savvy enough to understand the prospects of establishing a new country on a new continent, came on their own before 1654. But 1654 marks the beginning of organized Jewish life in North America. It was in that year that 23 Jews fled from Brazil after it was recaptured by the Portuguese from the Dutch. It was never a good thing for Jews to be living within Portugal's domain so it was only a matter of time before our forefathers would need to move-on…either by force or by choice. Most of Brazil's Jews went back to Holland, but 23 went to New Amsterdam to cast their lot in the New World. As described by Jacob Rader Marcus the "Dean" of American Jewish History, they "arrived on the island of Manhattan a despoiled, impoverished, sorry lot." These Jews found an environment that was none too friendly. New Amsterdam was mostly controlled by the Dutch West Indies Company and a man named Peter Stuyvesant. Permission to enter and remain was not quickly granted. When the Jews petitioned Stuyvesant, he was quoted as pointing out that, "Giving them liberty (meaning the Jews), we cannot refuse the Lutherans and the Papists (meaning the Catholics)." He was not eager to allow for a multi-religious society. Stuyvesant ultimately did grant those 23 Jews permission to remain permanently with one proviso: They were to take care of their own. Were any of these Jews to become impoverished, the other Jews would have to provide for them. Thus we have the beginnings of a unified community of Jewish settlers in February of 1655…roughly five months after landing in New Amsterdam. As Marcus pointed out, it was prophetic justice that Asser Levy, the shochet or ritual slaughterer, who served as butcher among those 23, established his slaughterhouse on what would one day be called "Wall Street." One could postulate that the diverse religious and ethnic community found in America today is the result of the persistence of those first 23 Jews who came here. But as we’ll understand in a moment, the legacy those 23 Jews left us today is actually the environment that allowed for a multi-religious society…not necessarily Judaism itself.

From those meager beginnings, the Jews on this continent have fought to be a part of the evolution of this country. And they succeeded. Throughout our time here we have been in the middle of every great moment in history. As Rabbi David Ellenson has pointed out, America was “a clean slate” for these Jews on which to create a new form of Judaism. Freedom was the stuff of this new religious expression. In many ways, at least for a great number of our American Jewish forefathers, freedom was such a part of being Jewish here that they naturally became politically involved. Anyone who believes that Jews either came late in the American story to a country already established or that they were bystanders during its birth are quite simply wrong. Jews literally got in at the ground level and there are so many examples, which we can celebrate and from which we should gain insight and inspiration. Living in the colonies, outside of the medieval ghettos of Europe, the members of the Jewish community had the freedom to abandon Judaism. But the majority did not. Some did to be sure. Many converted out in order to marry. But many remained Jewish. Those who did…sought to find a balance between being Jewish and being a member of the colonial society. It is however necessary to point out that few, if any, of the descendents of those 23 remained Jewish. Only one of the synagogues that exists today even has a loose association with the community that was here in 1654. But they were here then…and we are still here now.

Throughout all of the years of Jewish existence on this side of the world, a different kind of Judaism has been developing from anywhere else. Up to 90% of American Jews have left orthodoxy. Progressive or liberal or Reform Judaism has taken hold in all parts of the world…but it is different here. Here in the United States in particular, the evolution of Judaism has taken its cues from the evolution of this country. It was Thomas Jefferson who said in reference to religious freedom, “Divided we stand, united we fall.” He meant that this country is made up of different people who believe different things. But I believe that this quote extends even into the microcosm of Judaism. Our religion has developed here in a way that allows for individual thought. Of course there are boundaries, but our society was established and has blossomed based on free thought. It would be difficult for us not to allow for free thought within Judaism too.

There are those who believe that the history of American Judaism is a history of declension…meaning that we started out Orthodox and are progressively moving further and further from tradition and will someday completely assimilate. What these people don't understand is that the Jewish community is better organized today than it was even 100 years ago. Our history has been cyclical. We have had times of great religious identification and times with less. We have moved further from tradition and then back toward it. We ordained women in the 1970s…this was a great break from tradition. Today half of all rabbis ordained from the Hebrew Union College are women. This egalitarianism makes us stronger and it is deeply rooted in the freedoms fought for by our Jewish American forefathers.

Standing at the top of 350 years, it is easy to look back and see that Reform Judaism has created a doorway into our religion for so many people. Without Reform Judaism, many would have been left with no religious options at all. Orthodoxy offers no choices…and when throughout our history in this country people have been made to choose between orthodoxy or nothing…many chose nothing. This is not to say, in any way, that there is something wrong with orthodoxy. It is to say that the legacy of the 23 Jews who first came here in 1654 is not Orthodox American Judaism. No, their legacy is the environment that allowed for freedom to blossom…the environment that ultimately allowed for Reform Judaism to establish itself and flourish. When those 23 Jews gained freedom to be Jewish from Governor Stuyvesant, they gained freedom of religion for everyone who was different.

Let us look for a moment at Reform Judaism through the prism of 350 years. We have experienced so much. America became a new Zion for Jews who broke from Orthodoxy. When given the choice in the 1800s, most European Jews chose New York over Jerusalem when they fled. America was the new Promised Land. Right or wrong, America replaced Zion in the prayers and hearts of Jews. And in as much as Zionism in the late 1800s, and well into the second half of the twentieth century, was opposed by some Reform Jews, it was never abandoned completely. It was Louis Brandeis from Louisville, Kentucky, a Jewish Supreme Court Justice in the early 1900s who taught two generations that not only was it not un-American to be a Zionist…but in many ways it was un-American not to support a Zionist state. Supporting a Jewish state became an American obligation! Today Reform Judaism is in complete support of Israel. We might not always agree with what is happening there politically, but we continue to encourage our youth to spend time there.

Our movement’s programs, NFTY Summer in Israel and NFTY EIE a semester long study program, continue to grow. Many of our students study there during college…some even make Aliyah. And more than 50 members of our own Bet Shalom will travel there together next summer. Reform Judaism has evolved the Jewish idea of redemption into a greater concept of Social Justice. The message of the Prophets rebuking the Israelites from atop the City walls in the Tanach became the inscriptions on the walls of Reform Synagogues and the mottos of every program schedule. Our history is imbued with incredible philanthropy. All you have to do is browse the posters in the back hall to see those examples. We have not only created a platform of Social Justice outside the synagogue, but inside as well. We have, in most synagogues, tried to enforce equality for all people, rich or poor, male or female. For the first time in history our religious institutions were made to be democratic. Of course this democracy came with annual dues…another gift to the Jewish world that Reform Judaism has given, but we no longer sit in our sanctuaries according to socio-economic level.

The institutions our movement created well over 100 years ago, are the oldest in the new Jewish world. It was here that the infrastructure of Judaism was created anew. Our lay-governing body, the Union for Reform Judaism, together with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Central Conference of American Rabbis…all created by Isaac Mayer Wise before 1900 have served as models for other branches of Judaism. Not only has this model served to stand the test of time, but it also has proven to provide the right mixture of leadership to keep Reform Judaism a movement…something that is constantly moving towards its goal of Reforming Judaism in concert with the modern world.

We have lead the Jewish world in feminism, in interfaith work, in synagogue architecture, in creating a religious camping movement…in creating the largest “spiritual home” for the Jews in America…And the list goes on… Isaac Mayer Wise, the father of Reform Judaism in America understood that this was a different place than Europe. It was a different kind of place that required a different kind of religion. To keep people Jewish in the United States means making religion accessible, understandable, and attainable…but doing so within boundaries. We do not have a history of declension…we have a history of ascension…a history of rising toward our Jewishness…not backing away from it. To learn about our history is to realize that the Judaism we practice today was only possible because it evolved in America.

So why should we care? The Norwegian author Edvaart Rolvaag wrote, “When a people becomes interested in its past life, and seeks to acquire knowledge in order to better understand itself, it always experiences an awakening of new life.” We are standing here together today at a crossroads in the Jewish timeline. Our community is stronger in certain ways than ever before, but we have areas in which we need to work. There are notable Jewish revivals all over the country, but our synagogue affiliation rate nationally is only 40% at any one given time. A member of the Jewish community was on the ticket to the white house, but we were still rattled when Mel Gibson released his “Passion” on us. We are comfortable in America, but it doesn’t take much for us to get scared again. Israel's safely continues to plague us and International anti-Semitism is rampant.

Our education system is stronger and better defined than ever before, but many of our youth drop out after becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Some might even say our youth are becoming ambivalent. Is this because we as adults have become ambivalent too? The United States Congress passed a resolution last year that stated this month of September…this month right now…is to be called “National American Jewish History Month” in celebration of 350 years on this continent. It is so appropriate that we, nationally, are taking time to reflect on the past 350 years at the same time that we are celebrating these High Holy Days. We cannot be ambivalent in these times. Not in American life…not in our religious lives. During Rosh Hashanah we reflect on our histories with each other. We reflect on whether we have been the best people we can be and on Yom Kippur we ask God for forgiveness that we may begin the New Year with a clean slate. Let us also take time to reflect on the 350 years of organized Jewish life in America. Let those posters in the back of the building be a symbol of greater learning. Let us spend the next year studying the great history of the American Jewish Experience in general and Reform Judaism in particular. Let us think about how we best honor that history…NOT a history of declension…but a history of ascension.

May this be a year of peace…a year of health…and a year of renewing our commitments to the legacy of the American Jewish Experience.

Ken Yehi Razon…May this be God’s Will…..Shana Tova!